Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
- have a general understanding of the main cultural and literary trends of the Italian Renaissance.
-analyze the proposed Renaissance texts in terms of both form and content by providing a detailed critical reading of them;
- understand how Renaissance ideas about politics and morality could be conveyed in the literary texts of the period;
- engage effectively in class and tutorial discussions, presenting personal ideas or critical readings orally;
- complete written assignments, focusing on content, structure, style of the analyzed texts;
- enhance their ability to read a 16th century Italian printed edition, also thanks to English updated translations.

Indicative Module Content:

Reading of the following books (in Italian):
Niccolò Machiavelli, 'La Mandragola'
Ludovico Ariosto, 'Orlando furioso' (selection of passages)

Student Effort Type	Hours
Lectures	12
Tutorial	12
Specified Learning Activities	32
Autonomous Student Learning	56
Total	112

Not applicable to this module.

Additional Information:
The knowledge of Italian language.


 

Assessment Strategy  

Description	Timing		Component Scale		% of Final Grade
Assignment: Summary of scientific articles	Throughout the Trimester	n/a	Standard conversion grade scale 40%	No	20
Presentation: Narrated PowerPoint presentation on Ariosto's 'Orlando furioso'	Coursework (End of Trimester)	n/a	Standard conversion grade scale 40%	No	40
Class Test: Timed essay/commentary on Machiavelli's 'La mandragola'	Week 7	n/a	Standard conversion grade scale 40%	No	40

 

Resit In	Terminal Exam
Autumn	Yes - 2 Hour

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

Students will receive individual written feedback on their assignments and class tests. Feedback will normally be given one week after the submission of the assignments and class tests.

1) COMPULSORY PRIMARY SOURCES (IN ITALIAN)

• N. Machiavelli, La Mandragola (Venice: Francesco Bindoni and Maffeo Pasini, 1537): https://books.google.ie/books?id=676l1pziG9EC&pg=PA11&dq=inauthor:Niccol%C3%B2+Machiavelli+mandragola&hl=it&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiprtOwmPuCAxWbXUEAHUV4B2gQ6AF6BAgIEAI#v=onepage&q&f=false (or other Italian edition)
• L. Ariosto, L’Orlando furioso (Venice: Aldo Manuzio il vecchio’s heirs, 1545): https://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ226225908 (or other Italian edition)

English translations of both works will be uploaded on Brightspace or given during classes.


2) SECONDARY READINGS

• K. Eisenbichler, ‘Sex and Marriage in Machiavelli’s Mandragola: A Close(t) Reading’, Renaissance and Reformation, 40 (1) (2017), 13-35.
• M. Leta, ‘Il matrimonio della «vedova» e la Mandragola’. Lettere italiane, 73 (3), 2021, 466-489.
• N. Ordine, ‘Vittoria Colonna nell'Orlando Furioso’. Studi e problemi di critica testuale, 42 (1) 1991, 55-92.
• P. Schwarz Lausten, ‘Saracens and Turks in Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso: Sheer Imagination or Allusions to Reality?’ Nordic Journal of Renaissance Studies, 16, 2019, 97-126.


3) OTHER USEFUL SOURCES AND ARTICLES AVAILABLE ON BRIGHTSPACE

On Machiavelli’s La Mandragola:
• W.P. Baumgarth, ‘Deception and Enlightenment: The Politics of Machiavelli's The Mandragola’, Perspectives on Political Science, 44(1) (2015), pp. 55–62.
• B. Turner, ‘Privates Vices, Public Benefits: Mandragola in Machiavelli’s Political Theory’, Polity, 48(1) (2016), 109–132.
• H. Mansfield, ‘The Cuckold in Machiavelli’s Mandragola’, in The Comedy and Tragedy of Machiavelli: Essays on the Literary Works, ed. by Vickie B. Sullivan (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000), pp. 1–29.
• R. Martinez, 'The Pharmacy of Machiavelli: Roman Lucretia in Mandragola', Renaissance Drama, 14 (1983), 1-43.
• R. Andrews, ‘Scripts and Scenarios’, in Andrews, The Performance of Comedy in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 31–63.
• H. Wright, ‘Lucrezia in Mandragola: Machiavelli’s New Prince’, Interpretation 36(2) (2009), 145–164.
J. Tylus, 'Theater and its Social Uses: Machiavelli’s Mandragola and the Spectacle of Infamy'. Renaissance Quarterly, 53(3) (2000), 656-686.

On Ariosto's Orlando Furioso:
• A. Casadei. The History of Furioso. In: Ariosto Today. Contemporary Perspectives. Edited by Donald Beecher, Massimo Ciavolella, and Roberto Fedi (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), pp. 55-70.
• J.A. Cavallo, 'The Pathways of Knowledge in Boiardo and Ariosto: The Case of Rodamonte', Italica, 79(3) (Autumn 2002), 305-320
• J. Kisacky. Magic in Boiardo and Ariosto (New York: Peter Lang, 2001), pp. 55-135.
• I. Mac Carthy. 'Ariosto the Lunar Traveller'. Modern Language Review, 104(1) (January 2009), 71-82
• D. Quint, 'The Figure of Atlante: Ariosto and Boiardo's Poem'. MLN, 94(1), Italian Issue (Jan., 1979), 77-91
• E. Weaver, 'A Reading of the Interlaced Plot of the Orlando furioso: The Three Cases of Love Madness', in Ariosto Today. Contemporary Perspectives. Edited by Donald Beecher, Massimo Ciavolella, and Roberto Fedi (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003), 126-153.
S. Zatti, The Quest for Epic. From Ariosto to Tasso (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006), pp. 38-59.

Name	Role
Assoc Professor Paolo Acquaviva	Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Professor Ursula Fanning	Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Serena Laiena	Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Matteo Leta	Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Spring
Lecture	Offering 1	Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33	Mon 13:00 - 13:50
Lecture	Offering 1	Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33	Wed 13:00 - 13:50
Spring